Margin calls

If the capital in your account isn’t enough to keep your trades open, you’ll be put on margin call. Here’s a guide to what happens next.

Our margin requirements

Trading on margin can be a useful way of making your capital go further, enabling you to make profits far in excess of traditional trades without having to commit to a larger deposit. But it also comes with the risk of much larger losses, which can even exceed the amount of capital in your account.

To help prevent this from happening, we have a margin policy where we can close your positions automatically if you don’t have the funds to keep them open.

What is a margin call?

Margin call is the term for when the equity on your account – the total capital you have deposited plus or minus any profits or losses – drops below your margin requirement. You can find both figures listed at the top of the IG platform.

At this point, your positions become at risk of being automatically closed in order to reduce the margin requirement on your account.

You can rectify the situation yourself in one of two ways: deposit enough funds to increase your equity above the margin requirement, or close positions to reduce it. Or if you need more advice, call our dedicated support team on +27 10 344 0053 for information on what to do.

When will my positions get closed?

Typically, there are four scenarios in which your positions will get automatically closed. However, we can't always apply this protection and you shouldn't rely on us doing so.

If your equity drops beneath 50% of your margin requirement

If you remain on margin call constantly for 24 hours

If you are on margin call during periods of increased volatility, or periods when we anticipate increased volatility

If you are on margin call going into the weekend. We'll try to avoid having any accounts on margin call going into the weekend. So if your equity is below 100% of your margin requirement, your positions will be at an increased risk of being closed on a Friday evening.

Our margin requirements are subject to change. If they increase on one or more of your positions then your current equity may not be enough to keep positions open.

Finally, it is important to remember that we could close you out at any time during margin call. It is your responsibility to have enough funds on your account to fully cover the margin requirement of your open positions.

Will I get notified?

There are two points at which we will aim to notify you that you are on margin call.

When your equity drops beneath…

We will endeavour to…

99% of margin

Send you a notification email

75% of margin

Send you a second email*

50% of margin

Start automatically closing positions

*If your equity level moves below 75% multiple times on a single margin call, we won’t send you multiple notifications.

However, it is important to note that markets move fast, which may mean that we are unable to contact you before your positions get closed. If your equity drops from above 100% of margin to below 50% in less than five seconds, for instance, we will not be able to contact you.

If you remain on margin call for 24 hours then positions will still be automatically closed, and your positions will still be at increased risk on a Friday.

It is always important to remember that our margin policy is not a guarantee against your capital running into negative territory. For this reason, it is important to use tools like guaranteed stops to ensure that your positions are closed at the level you specify. A guaranteed stop will incur a charge if it is triggered.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Professional clients can lose more than they deposit. All trading involves risk.

IG is a trading name of IG Markets Ltd and IG Markets South Africa Limited. International accounts are offered by IG Markets Limited in the UK (FCA Number 195355), a juristic representative of IG Markets South Africa Limited (FSP No 41393). South African residents are required to obtain the necessary tax clearance certificates in line with their foreign investment allowance and may not use credit or debit cards to fund their international account.

IG provides execution only services and enters into principal to principal transactions with its clients on IG’s prices. Such trades are not on exchange. Whilst IG is a regulated FSP, CFDs issued by IG are not regulated by the FAIS Act as they are undertaken on a principal-to-principal basis.

The information on this site is not directed at residents of the United States or Belgium or any particular country outside South Africa and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.

Voted SA’s top CFD provider in Business Day Investors Monthly Annual Stockbroker Awards in 2012 and 2013, best platform for Active Day Traders in 2013 and 2014 and SA's best Online Broker in 2015 and 2017.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.